


Hope

by wings128



Category: Stargate Atlantis RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 17:24:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/676974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wings128/pseuds/wings128
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their hands splayed down over the length of her spine, crossing over it so each hand cupped the hip furthest from him......</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [auscaz](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=auscaz).



> I woke this morning with my friend’s personal agony in the forefront of my mind. Yet I had no idea how I could show her my support and understanding from across the nearly 3000km between us. I looked at the haphazard stack of manuscripts, printed chapters; middle-of-the-night snippets of genius scrawled on random pieces of paper and the scattered pens on my bedside table, picked one up and started writing. This story is the result of that creative hour. I proofed it and emailed it to auscaz while I fretted about the personal nature of the feelings described. This is what I received in reply:
> 
> “OMG if I wasn't sitting in a public place at the moment I would be crying my eyes out. The first half of that is pure beauty. The emotion is overwhelming, and I want to show the world how awesome it is. Every single word has my heart breaking. The second half is OMFG, a dream. Brilliant, beautiful, emotional, just awesome.  
> Thank you so much, it is so beautiful....  
> One of the reasons I would love for you to post it is to show the LJ world that you wrote this for me, when I needed it, because of what I am going through. It is an amazing gesture and gift and I want everyone to see how wonderful a friend and writer you are.” 
> 
> So at auscaz’s overwhelmingly humbling request I’m posting her story here. I hope you enjoy it as much as she did and as much as I had writing it for her.

The sun had just enough bite in it to remind her, that Summer wasn’t completely ready to relinquish her realm to the riot of Autumn’s glorious hues. A light playful breeze tugged relentlessly at her dark blonde tresses but she ignored it; focusing instead on the seemingly random patterns, left on the lake’s silver-green surface by the resident duck family.

Family, it was a concept perceived and labelled by so many diverse and complicated ties; most of them tangled into knots so tight that you hadn’t a hope of escaping. Others however, seemed as fragile as the gossamer strands of a silk-spider. It was typical of fate’s whim that those were the ones to which we wanted to cling.

Her father’s life hung by one such strand. She sighed deep and slow, collapsing in on herself as if everything that made her strong was escaping with it. Her father was strong, had been there for her, a pillar of support and wisdom throughout the maze of life’s hurdles. Would he continue to be? Her mind shied away from the thought. It was something close to her own heart, a shared legacy that forced her to examine her own mortality. Fear. Death. Loss. Could the overwhelming, all-consuming feelings that surged and swirled inside her really be contained in those three small words?

Fear; was that an adequate description for the mass of coiling cables slithering in her belly, the sharp burn of bile rising in the back of her throat, or the cool sweat suddenly slick on her skin; only to be dried by the breeze as if it’d never been?

Her phone bleeped where it lay in the cropped yellow/green grass next to her hip, but she ignored its summons. Technology was designed and created by humanity, supposedly to assist humanity in making their lives better. Would it make her father’s better? That was another question she didn’t want to examine too closely.

Were loss and lost one in the same, simply two heads of the same beast? No matter how hard she forced it down inside her she still felt loss looming on her own personal horizon, like the rolling thunderheads of the winter storms; growly, threatening and inevitable.

Her electronic companion bleeped twice in efficient succession, its signal deliberately upbeat and perky. No doubt somewhere in the universe someone was laughing at the irony of the moment. She sat here, out in nature’s bountiful greenness, surrounded by life while pondering the inevitable aloneness of death. Could you ever truly be alone, would you want to?

She was in shock; they all were, her family dealing with everything in their own ways, waiting for news, waiting for tests, waiting-waiting-waiting. It was driving her mad! A diagnosis, a plan of attack, and the steps they had to take for the outcome they all wanted; these things were not immediately theirs to have. They must wait. So wait they would. 

With jerky startled thoughts she sifted through the facets of herself; working mother, wife, dutiful daughter, friend. She see-sawed through a random unpredictable collection of emotions, each one lethal in its power to drive her to her knees as she fought to stay afloat, to keep her head above water when all she wanted was to succumb, to have the pain dissipate.

"Send pics" she had typed when, for the umpteenth time that day, she’d been asked what she needed.  
Her friend had responded immediately, a shit load of them; large brightly coloured images of those hazel/gold eyes and always with the one that never failed to make her smile, all were accompanied by some little anecdote, meant to lighten her burden. Yet it had been two days since she’d acknowledged any of them and their frequency had lessened as her friend’s uncertainty grew. She wanted to reply, wanted to say she was still here, that she was ok. But she wasn’t ok and really what could her friend do to change that, from a thousand or so miles away? What could anyone do from any distance?

She swept her fingers beneath the curve of her eyes and sighed at the smudge of black on their tips.  
‘Great!’ She cursed, so much for waterproof mascara, now she’d have to stop at the restrooms before returning to her desk and its pile of due yesterday files.  
She picked up and cradled her phone in her left palm; she hadn’t checked it all day. The list of senders included three from Tom, one from Kate, two from Lucy and Wings’ emails. She smiled despite herself as she read the latest subject line "BIG HUGS……I’M HERE……" It would be a shock across the ditch, but that one line of text had touched her where all the pics and chat had failed.  
"I’m here too, just quiet." She hit send and for a moment’s moment, considered that she was still here and there was still hope; there were still people who were here for her. It was then that she heard it, an electronic bleep muted by distance. 

The lakeside was deserted, but she wouldn’t have noticed a herd of stampeding elephants passing by, let alone the everyday students and workers picnicking under the trees on their lunch break. That tiny noise had been like a universal elbow nudge saying Pay Attention. Her phone was idle, no new messages, until….Wings’ reply bleeped into existence.  
“We’re here too.”  
She tried not to be excited as the sudden appearance of butterflies in her stomach made her dizzy. The sound of in-step scuffs on the black seal of the meandering pathway drew her stunned attention from the phone in her palm, to the trio walking up the gentle slope towards her.

A tall man, long relaxed stride, straight shoulders and luxurious black hair that sprouted in every possible random direction, walked beside a tall redheaded woman in dark blue jeans and a purple top. On the woman’s left the third person moved with the fluid black grace of a hunting panther; his hair an exact copy of the other man, his eyes were the clear hazel/gold she dreamed of; even when she was awake. Their gaze held her, cradled her with their concern and she’d never felt more protected or more loved in her life. They were here, they had come for her. He had come for her.

Wings reached her first and offered her a hand to help her to her feet. She knew it was Wings, though this was the first time they’d ever met, she had a sense that she’d know her friend anywhere.  
“I’m here.” Wings grinned, her demeanour echoing her relief at the rightness of her gift, as she added. “We’re here.”  
Caz felt light headed, she supposed it could’ve been due to the fact that she hadn’t eaten properly in two days, but she doubted it. 

Wings’ arms tightened and held for the longest time, ignoring the unspoken signal that usually ended such clinches. Time passed and the two women just held each other. It was not a moment for words. 

She felt them, felt the moment when she was surrounded, enclosed, sheltered, supported by the warmth of their bodies; strong, male and so capable. Their hands splayed down over the length of her spine, crossing over it so each hand cupped the hip furthest from him. They squeezed in unison, supporting her as they sensed her weakness, her desire to collapse into strong arms that would hold her forever.  
She leaned into them, turning from Wings and into his arms instead. She felt the other’s hands press hard before releasing her; a reminder that they were not leaving her, only allowing her this.  
“I’m here Caz” he whispered on a tentative breath against her lips and drew her in tight down the length of his lean body “with you.”

His mouth was gentle yet demanding, the ideal blend of soft seduction and male insistence that made for a perfect kiss. She opened willingly, eager to taste the heat of his mouth, to feel the slide of his tongue as they tasted each other for the first time. His hands curved over her hips, fingers splaying across the small of her back as he nestled them tighter together. She moaned her pleasure and felt him smile as he deepened the intensity of the kiss.

She didn’t know how Wings had done it, or even what it all meant.  
What she did know was that he was holding her in his arms and it was everything.  
He was with her, he was here, he was her Joe.

They finally allowed themselves to breathe and after a moment-long gaze, they turned as one. She saw the other two, grins on their faces, John standing tall and strong behind Wings; his arms tucked under her breasts, and her fingers entwined with his as he held her firmly against him. John whispered, too low to be heard outside of themselves, Wings ducked in close and whispered a reply that made her chuckle and her blue eyes sparkle. “Tell her.”

John nodded and as he lifted his head from the crook of Wings’ shoulder Caz couldn’t help but tense. She knew it; she had started to feel the weight of her worry settling back across her shoulders. Joe tightened his grip on her hip and murmured comforting nothings in her ear; she breathed deep and felt her fear evaporate as she exhaled.  
“I’ve brought a team” John, his deep lazy drawl hinting of recently discovered happiness, spoke just loud enough for only the four of them to hear. Apparently whatever this meant it was need to know. “They’re specialists who, with your family’s permission, are willing to look into your father’s case.”

Caz stepped out of the dark tunnel she’d existed in since her mother had rung her with the news, and straight into the blazing dazzling light of pure hope.

Joe turned her in his arms, tilted up her chin and used the pad of his thumb to brush away the solitary tear from the corner of her right eye before he lowered his head to meet her own.

“Whatever happens,” he whispered huskily in the intimate air between them “I’m here.”


End file.
